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Meniscal tears with greater radial involvement predict radiographic OA
Patients who have meniscal tears of the knee that have meniscal extrusion and large radial involvement are more likely to develop radiographic osteoarthritis, according to results of this study.
“Knees with meniscus tears with greater radial involvement and extrusion are at greater risk for later development of radiographic [osteoarthritis] OA,” James J. Irrgang, PT, PhD, ATC, FAPTA, and colleagues wrote in the study abstract.
Irrgang and colleagues found the rate of medial meniscus degeneration or tear was not significantly higher in patients who developed radiographic OA compared to patients who did not develop it. However, factors like medial meniscal extrusion, tears with greater radial involvement and complex tears were measured in patients at who eventually developed radiographic OA.
The analysis was performed using data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative database and the researchers included 32 patients who developed radiographic OA in a healthy knee matched against 64 patients who did not develop radiographic OA, according to the abstract.
Disclosure: The Medical Student Training in Aging Research from the American Federation for Aging Research provided support for this study.